Spare Change News

Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

  • Open Letter to Senator Scott Brown

    Dear Senator Brown: I am writing you because you are my lobbyist in Congress. Your voters have but three. Special interests have thousands. This is not exactly a letter, it is more like a lament. Hopefully something here will have some appeal. Here is how one voter sees the world as Congress works to restore…

  • The GOP Field: No One Works in the Middle

    Aaron James Spare Change News The American presidency is arguably the most stressful, yet highest held office in the world, and it is for this reason that the office has always intrigued me. The icing on the cake is the fact that you and I have a part in deciding who gets to run this…

  • Editorial: Encouragement in the fight against homelessness

    Credit is due to the Patrick administration for its efforts to reduce the Bay State’s homeless population. A new emphasis on housing as the first response to homelessness promises to be more humane — and cost-effective — than our traditional reliance on shelters and motels to get people off the streets. The policy shift took…

  • Top Lieutenant: Kevin Weeks writes about 25 years with Whitey Bulger

    Adam Sennott Spare Change News For 25 years, he was James “Whitey” Bulger’s right-hand man and one of his closest friends. “[He] was a guy that taught me a lot, there was a friendship there. I really believed in him,” said Kevin Weeks, Bulger’s former top lieutenant . “And now I look here and I…

  • Unregular Radio

    Peter Prokesch Spare Change News I walk up and down Boston’s Bedford Street three times, baffled and unable to find the building for Unregular Radio. A scruffy man in his early twenties with oversized sunglasses and shoulder-length hair emerges from an ally. My first lead. I retrace his steps and find a door with an…

  • Jeffrey Powers – Vendor Profile

    Liam Cunningham Spare Change News Many of Spare Change’s vendors have creative passions that define their personalities. Mark Montgomery, last issue’s featured vendor, was a singer. Jeffrey Power’s creative expressions come in the form of artwork. Powers, one of Spare Change’s newest vendors, began selling Spare Change newspapers around two months ago, drawn to the…

  • Urban Ag Fair Comes to Cambridge

    Robert Sondak Spare Change News High food prices are prompting increased interest in locally grown foods and community gardening — both of which will be on display at this year’s outdoor Cambridge Urban Agricultural Fair in Harvard Square. “The high price for food has opened up Cambridge residents’ eyes to the concept of locally grown…

  • Boston Public Health Commission 7th Annual Book Bag Drive A Success

    Nakia Hill Spare Change News Notebooks, pencils, crayons, hand sanitizer, rulers, paper, and folders made every book bag complete for each child who attended the Boston Public Health Commission’s 7th annual Book Bag Drive and Resource Fair. In back of The Salvation Army Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center in Dorchester hundreds of children…

  • Iraq & Afghanistan: Time To Come Home

    Marc D. Goldfinger Spare Change News Recently a U. S. helicopter in Afghanistan was shot down and we lost 30 soldiers. Then a wave of violence swept across Iraq and at least 89 people were slain and over 300 wounded. When, if ever, can “mission accomplished” take place? These two endless wars are eating our…

  • Homeless Again, Part 3

    James Shearer Spare Change News I’d forgotten how cruel and unfeeling life on the streets can sometimes be. In the years when I was on street, I would sometimes see myself as a hero. The good guy. The knight in shinning armor. Sometimes it played out well, but more often than not everything blew up…

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